<h5 id="id00901">VANITY FAIR</h5>
<p id="id00902">'Miss Rosie dear, can I speak to you?' said Toby's voice, the day before
the funeral.</p>
<p id="id00903">'Yes; come in, Toby,' said the child mournfully.</p>
<p id="id00904">'I should like to see you, Miss Rosie,' said Toby mysteriously. 'You won't
be offended, will you? but I brought you this.'</p>
<p id="id00905">Then followed a great fumbling in Toby's pockets, and from the depths of
one of them was produced a large red pocket-handkerchief, from which, when
he had undone the various knots, he took out most carefully a little
parcel, which he laid on Rosalie's knee.</p>
<p id="id00906">'It's only a bit of black, Miss Rosie dear,' he said. 'I thought you could
put it on to-morrow; and you mustn't mind my seeing after it; there was no
one to do it but me.'</p>
<p id="id00907">And before Rosalie could thank him, he was gone.</p>
<p id="id00908">When she opened the parcel, she found in it a piece of broad black ribbon,
and a little black silk handkerchief—the best poor Toby could obtain.
Rosalie's tears fell afresh as she fastened the ribbon on her hat, to be
ready for the sorrowful service on the morrow.</p>
<p id="id00909">The fair was nearly over, yet some of the shows lingered and there were
still crowds of children round the whirligigs and shooting-galleries when
the mournful procession went by. The children at first drew back in
astonishment; it was an unexpected sight, a coffin on the fair-ground. But
astonishment soon gave way to curiosity, and they crowded round the little
band of mourners, and followed them nearly to the cemetery.</p>
<p id="id00910">Augustus went through the service with an unmoved face. Conscience had been
making its final appeal the last few days, and had made one last and mighty
effort to arouse Augustus Joyce to repentance. But he had stifled
conscience, suppressed it, trampled on it, extinguished it. God's Holy
Spirit had been resisted and quenched already, and the conscience of the
impenitent sinner was 'seared as with a hot iron!'</p>
<p id="id00911">All the company of the theatre followed Augustus Joyce's wife to the grave,
and more than one of them felt unusually moved as they looked at little
sorrowful Rosalie walking by her father's side. She was quite calm and
quiet, and never shed a tear until the service was over, and she was
walking through the quiet cemetery a little behind the rest of the party.
Then her eyes fell upon Toby, who was walking near her with an air of real
heartfelt sorrow on his honest face. He had tied a piece of crape round his
hat and a black handkerchief round his neck, out of respect for his late
mistress and for his mistress's little daughter.</p>
<p id="id00912">Something in the curious way in which the crape was fastened on, something
in the thought of the kindly heart which had planned this token of
sympathy, touched Rosalie, and brought tears to her eyes for the first time
on that sorrowful day.</p>
<p id="id00913">For sometimes, when a groat sorrow is so strong as to shut up with a firm
hand those tears which would bring relief to the aching heart, a little
thing, a very little thing,—perhaps only a flower which our lost one
loved, or something she touched for the last time or spoke of on the last
day; or, it may be, as with Rosalie, only a spark of kindly sympathy where
we have scarcely looked for it, and an expression of feeling which was
almost unexpected,—such a little thing as this will open in a moment the
flood-gates of sorrow, and give us that relief for which we have been
longing and yearning in vain.</p>
<p id="id00914">So Rosalie found it; the moment her eyes rested on Toby's face and on
Toby's bit of crape, she burst into a flood of tears, and was able to weep
out the intenseness of her sorrow. And after that came a calm in her heart;
for somehow she felt as if the angels' song was not yet over, as if they
were still singing for joy over her mother's soul, and as if the Lord, the
Good Shepherd, were still saying, 'Rejoice with Me, for I have found My
sheep which was lost.'</p>
<p id="id00915">Then they left the seaport town, and set off for a distant fair. And little
Rosalie was very solitary in her caravan; everywhere and in everything she
felt a sense of loss. Her father came occasionally to see her; but his
visits were anything but agreeable, and she always felt relieved when he
went away again to the other caravan. Thus the hours by day seemed long and
monotonous, with no one inside the caravan to speak to, no one to care for
or to nurse. She often climbed beside Toby and watched him driving, and
spoke to him of the things which they passed by the way. But the hours by
night were the longest of all, when the caravan was drawn up on a lonely
moor, or in a thickly-wooded valley; when Rosalie was left alone through
those long desolate hours, and there was no sound to be heard but the
hooting of the owls and the soughing of the wind amongst the trees. Then
indeed little Rosalie felt desolate; and she would kneel upon one of the
boxes, and look out towards the other caravans, to be sure that they were
near enough to hear her call to them if anything happened. Then she would
kneel down and repeat her evening prayer again and again, and entreat the
Good Shepherd to carry her in His arms, now that she was so lonely and had
no mother.</p>
<p id="id00916">But they soon arrived at the fair for which they were bound, the acting
went on as usual, and Rosalie had once more to take her place on the stage.</p>
<p id="id00917">Very dreary and dismal and tawdry everything seemed to her. Her little
white dress, the dress in which she had lain by her mother's side, was
soiled and tumbled, and the wreath of roses looked crushed and faded, as
Rosalie took it from the box There was no mother to fasten it on her hair,
no mother to cheer and comfort her as she went slowly up the theatre steps.
Her father was looking for her, and told her they were all waiting, and
then the play commenced.</p>
<p id="id00918">Rosalie's eyes wandered up and down the theatre, and she wondered how it
was that when she was a very little girl she had thought it so beautiful.
It was just the same now as it had been then. The gilding was just as
bright, the lamps were just as sparkling, the scenery had been repainted,
and was even more showy and striking. Yet it all looked different to
Rosalie. It seemed to her very poor and disappointing and paltry, as she
looked at it from her place on the stage.</p>
<p id="id00919">And then she thought of her mother, and of the different place in which she
was spending that very evening. Rosalie had been reading about it that
afternoon before she dressed herself for the play. She thought of the
streets of gold on which her mother was walking—pure gold, not like the
tinsel and gilt of the theatre; she thought of the white robe, clean and
fair, in which her mother was dressed, so unlike her little tumbled, soiled
frock; she thought of the new song her mother was singing, so different
from the coarse, low songs that were being sung in the theatre; she thought
of the music to which her mother was listening, the voice of harpers
harping with their harps, and she thought how different it was from the
noisy band close to her, and from the clanging music which her father's
company was making. She thought, too, of the words which her mother was
saying to the Good Shepherd, perhaps even then: 'Thou art worthy; for Thou
wast slain, and hast redeemed me to God by Thy blood:' how different were
these words from the silly, foolish, profane words she herself was
repeating!</p>
<p id="id00920">Oh, did her mother think of her? How little Rosalie wondered if she did!
And oh, how often she longed to be with her mother in the Golden City,
instead of in the hot, wearying theatre!</p>
<p id="id00921">And so the weeks went on; fair after fair was visited; her father's new
play was repeated again and again, till it seemed very old to Rosalie; the
theatre was set up and taken down, and all went on much as usual.</p>
<p id="id00922">There was no change in the child's life, except that she had found a new
occupation and pleasure. And this was teaching Toby to read.</p>
<p id="id00923">'Miss Rosie,' he had said one day, 'I wish I could read the Testament!'</p>
<p id="id00924">'Can't you read, Toby?'</p>
<p id="id00925">'Not a word, missie; I only wish I could. I've not been what I ought to be,<br/>
Miss Rosie; and I do want to do different. Will you teach me?'<br/></p>
<p id="id00926">And so it came to pass that Rosalie began to teach poor Toby to read. And
after that she might often be seen perched on the seat beside Toby, with
her Testament in her hand, pointing out one word after another to him as
they drove slowly along. And when Toby was tired of reading, Rosalie would
read to him some story out of the Bible. But the one they both loved best,
and the one they read more often than any other, was the parable of the
Lost Sheep. Rosalie was never tired of reading that, nor Toby of hearing
it.</p>
<p id="id00927">There was one thing for which Rosalie was very anxious, and that was to
meet little Mother Manikin again. At every fair they visited she looked
with eager eyes for the 'Royal Show of Dwarfs'; but they seemed to have
taken a different circuit from that of the theatre party, for fair after
fair went by without Rosalie's wish being gratified. But at length one
afternoon, the last afternoon of the fair, Toby came running to the caravan
with an eager face.</p>
<p id="id00928">'Miss Rosie,' he said, 'I've just found the "Royal Show of Dwarfs." They're
here, Miss Rosie; and as soon as I caught sight of the picture over the
door, thinks I to myself, "Miss Rosie will be glad." So I went up to the
door and spoke to the conductor (they've got a new one, Miss Rosie), and he
said they were going to-night, so I ran off at once to tell you—I knew you
would like to see little Mother Manikin again.'</p>
<p id="id00929">'Oh dear!' said the child, 'I am glad.'</p>
<p id="id00930">'You'll have to go at once, Miss Rosie; they're to start to-night the
moment the performance is over; they're due at another fair to-morrow.'</p>
<p id="id00931">'How was it that you didn't see the show before, Toby?'</p>
<p id="id00932">'I don't know how it was, Miss Rosie, unless that it's at the very far end
of the fair, and I haven't happened to be down that way before. Now, Miss
Rosie dear, if you like I'll take you.'</p>
<p id="id00933">'But I daren't leave the caravan, Toby, and father has the key; it wouldn't
be safe, would it, with all these people about?'</p>
<p id="id00934">'No' said Toby, as he looked down on the surging mass of people, 'I don't
suppose it would; you'd have all your things stolen, Miss Rosie.'</p>
<p id="id00935">'What shall I do?' said the child.</p>
<p id="id00936">'Well, if you wouldn't mind going by yourself, Miss Rosie, I'll keep guard
here.'</p>
<p id="id00937">Rosalie looked rather fearfully at the dense crowd beneath her; she had
never wandered about the fair, but had kept quietly in the caravan, as her
mother had wished her to do so; she knew very little of what was going on
in other parts of the ground.</p>
<p id="id00938">'Where is it, Toby?' she asked.</p>
<p id="id00939">'Right away at the other end of the field, Miss Rosie. Do you hear that
clanging noise?'</p>
<p id="id00940">'Yes,' said Rosalie, 'very well; it sounds as if all the tin trays in the
town were being thrown one upon another!'</p>
<p id="id00941">'That's the Giant's Cave, Miss Rosie, where that noise is, and the Dwarf
Show is close by. Keep that noise in your ears, and you will be sure to
find it.'</p>
<p id="id00942">So Rosalie left Toby in the caravan, and went down into the pushing crowd.
It was in the middle of the afternoon, and the fair was full of people.
They were going in different directions, and it was hard work for Rosalie
to get through them. It was only by very slow degrees that she could make
her way through the fair.</p>
<p id="id00943">It was a curious scene. A long row of bright gilded shows was on one side
of her, and at the door of each stood a man addressing the crowd, and
setting forth the special merits and attractions of his show. First, there
were the Waxworks, with a row of specimen figures outside, and their
champion proclaiming—</p>
<p id="id00944">'Ladies and gentlemen, here is the most select show in the fair! Here is
amusement and instruction combined! Here is nothing to offend the moral and
artistic taste! You may see here Abraham offering up Aaron, and Henry IV.
in prison; Cain and Abel in the Garden of Eden, and William the Conqueror
driving out the ancient Britons!'</p>
<p id="id00945">Then, as Rosalie pressed on through the crowd, she was jostled in front of
the show of the Giant Boy and Girl. Here there was a great concourse of
people, gazing at the huge picture of an enormously fat Highlander, which
was hung over the door. There was a curious band in front of this show,
consisting of a man beating a drum with his right hand and turning a barrel
organ with his left, and another man blowing vociferously through a
trumpet. In spite of all this noise, a third man was standing on a raised
platform, addressing the crowds beneath.</p>
<p id="id00946">'I say, I say! now exhibiting, the great Scotch brother and sister, the
greatest man and woman ever exhibited! All for twopence; all for twopence!
children half-price! You're <i>just</i> in time, you're in capital time;
I'm so glad to see you in such good time. Come now, take your seats, take
your seats!'</p>
<p id="id00947">Rosalie struggled on, but another enormous crowd stopped her way. This time
it was in front of the show of marionettes, or dancing dolls. On the
platform outside the show was a man, shaking a doll dressed as an iron-clad
soldier.</p>
<p id="id00948">'These are not living actors, ladies and gentlemen,' cried the man outside;
'yet if you come inside you will see wonderfully artistic feats! None of
the figures are alive, which makes the performance so much more interesting
and pleasing. Now's your chance, ladies and gentlemen! now's your chance!
There's plenty of room. It isn't often I can tell you so; it is the rarest
occurrence, but now there is nice room! Now's your chance!'</p>
<p id="id00949">Past all these shows Rosalie pushed, longing to get on yet unable to hurry.</p>
<p id="id00950">Then she came to a corner of the fair where a Cheap Jack was crying his
wares.</p>
<p id="id00951">'Here's a watch,' said the man, holding it up, 'cost two pounds ten! I
couldn't let you have it for a penny less! I'll give any one five pounds
that will get me a watch like this for two pounds ten in any shop in the
town. Come now, any one say two pounds ten?' giving a great slap on his
knee. 'Two pounds ten; two pounds ten! Well, I'll tell you what, I'll take
off the two pounds—I'll say ten shillings! Come, ten shillings! Ten
shillings! Ten shillings! Well, I'll be generous, I'll say five shillings;
I'll take off a crown. Come now, five shillings!' This was said with
another tremendous slap on his knee. Then, without stopping a moment, he
went from five shillings to four-and-sixpence, four shillings,
three-and-sixpence. 'Well, I don't mind telling my dearest relation and
friend, that I'll let you have it for two-and-six. Come now, two-and-six,
two shillings, one-and-six, one shilling, sixpence. Come now, sixpence!
Only sixpence!'</p>
<p id="id00952">On this a boy held out his hand, and became for sixpence the possessor of
the watch, which the man had declared only two minutes before he would not
part with for two pounds ten shillings!</p>
<p id="id00953">Rosalie pressed on and turned the corner. Here there was another row of
shows: the Fat Boy, whose huge clothes were being paraded outside as an
earnest of what was to be seen within; the Lady Without Arms, whose
wonderful feats of knitting, sewing, writing, and tea-making were being
rehearsed to the crowd; the Entertaining Theatre, outside which was a
stuffed performing cat playing on a drum, and two tiny children, of about
three years old, dressed up in the most extraordinary costumes, and
dancing, with tambourines in their hands; the Picture Gallery, in which you
could see Adam and Eve, Queen Elizabeth, and other distinguished persons:
all these were on Rosalie's right hand, and on her left was a long
succession of stalls, on which were sold gingerbread, brandysnap, nuts,
biscuits, cocoa-nuts, boiled peas, hot potatoes, and sweets of all kinds.
Here was a man selling cheap walking-sticks, and there another offering the
boys a moustache and a pair of spectacles for a penny each, and assuring
them that if they would only lay down the small sum of twopence, they might
become the greatest swells in the town.</p>
<p id="id00954">How glad Rosalie was to get past them all, and to hear the clanging sound
from the Giant's Cave growing nearer and nearer. And at last, to her joy,
she arrived before the 'Royal Show of Dwarfs.' 'Now,' she thought, 'I shall
see Mother Manikin.'</p>
<p id="id00955">The performance was just about to begin, and the conductor was standing at
the door inviting people to enter.</p>
<p id="id00956">'Now, miss,' he said, turning to Rosalie, 'now's your time; only a penny,
and none of them more than three feet high! Showing now! Showing now!'</p>
<p id="id00957">Rosalie paid the money, and pressed eagerly into the show. The little
people had just appeared, and were bowing and paying compliments to the
company. But Mother Manikin was not there. Rosalie's eyes wandered up and
down the show, and peered behind the curtain at the end, but Mother Manikin
was nowhere to be seen. Rosalie could not watch the performance, so anxious
was she to know if her dear little friend were within. At last the
entertainment was over, and the giant and dwarfs shook hands with the
company before ushering them out. Rosalie was the last to leave, and when
the tall thin giant came up to her, she looked up timidly into his face and
said—</p>
<p id="id00958">'Please, sir, may I see Mother Manikin?'</p>
<p id="id00959">'Who are you, my child?' said the giant majestically.</p>
<p id="id00960">'I'm Rosalie, sir,—little Rosalie Joyce; don't you remember that Mother<br/>
Manikin sat up with my mother when she was ill?'<br/></p>
<p id="id00961">The child's lips quivered as she mentioned her mother.</p>
<p id="id00962">'Oh dear me! yes, I remember it; of course I do,' said the giant.</p>
<p id="id00963">'Of course, of course,' echoed the three little dwarfs.</p>
<p id="id00964">'Then please will you take me to Mother Manikin?'</p>
<p id="id00965">'With the greatest of pleasure, if she were here,' said the giant, with a
bow; 'but the unfortunate part of the business is that she is not here!'</p>
<p id="id00966">'No, she's not here,' said the dwarfs.</p>
<p id="id00967">'Oh dear! oh dear!' said the child, with a little cry of disappointment.</p>
<p id="id00968">'Very sorry, indeed, my dear,' said the giant. 'I'm afraid <i>I</i> sha'n't
do as well?'</p>
<p id="id00969">'No,' said Rosalie mournfully. 'It was Mother Manikin I wanted; she knew
all about my mother.'</p>
<p id="id00970">'Very sorry indeed, my dear,' repeated the giant 'Very sorry, very sorry!'
re-echoed the dwarfs.</p>
<p id="id00971">'Where is Mother Manikin?' asked the child.</p>
<p id="id00972">Why, the fact is, my dear, she has retired from the concern. Made her
fortune, you see. At least, having saved a nice sum of money, she
determined to leave the show. Somehow, she grew tired of entertaining
company, and told us "old age must have its liberties."'</p>
<p id="id00973">'Then where is she?' asked Rosalie.</p>
<p id="id00974">'She has taken two little rooms in a town in the south of the county; very
comfortable, my dear. You must call and see her some day.'</p>
<p id="id00975">'Oh dear!' said little Rosalie; 'I'm so very, very sorry she is not here!'</p>
<p id="id00976">'Poor child!' said the giant kindly.</p>
<p id="id00977">'Poor child! poor child!' said the dwarfs as kindly.</p>
<p id="id00978">Rosalie turned to go, but the giant waved her back.</p>
<p id="id00979">'A glass of wine, Susannah!' he said.</p>
<p id="id00980">'Yes, a glass of wine,' said Master Puck and Miss Mab.</p>
<p id="id00981">'Oh no,' said the child; 'no, thank you, not for me!'</p>
<p id="id00982">'A cup of tea, Susannah!' called the giant.</p>
<p id="id00983">'Oh no,' said Rosalie; 'I must go. Toby is keeping guard for me; I mustn't
stay a minute.'</p>
<p id="id00984">'Won't you?' said the giant reproachfully; 'then goodbye, my dear. I wish I
could escort you home, but we mustn't make ourselves too cheap, you know.
Good-bye, good-bye!'</p>
<p id="id00985">'Good-bye, my dear, good-bye!' said Master Puck and Miss Mab.</p>
<p id="id00986">So Rosalie sorrowfully turned homewards, and struggled out through the
surging mass of people. The conductor at the door pointed out to her a
shorter way to the theatre caravan. She was glad to get out of the clanging
sound of the Giant's Cave, from the platform of which a man was assuring
the crowd that if only they would come to this show, they would be sure to
come again that very evening, and would bring all their dearest friends
with them.</p>
<p id="id00987">Then the child went through a long covered bazaar, in which was a multitude
of toys, wax dolls, wooden dolls, china dolls, composition dolls, rag
dolls, and dolls of all descriptions; together with wooden horses, donkeys,
elephants, and every kind of toy in which children delight. After this she
came out upon a more open space, where a Happy Family was being displayed
to an admiring throng.</p>
<p id="id00988">It consisted of a large cage fastened to a cart, which was drawn by a
comfortable-looking donkey. Inside the cage were various animals, living on
the most friendly terms with each other—a little dog, in a smart coat,
playing with several small white rats, a monkey hugging a little white
kitten, a white cat, which had been dyed a brilliant yellow, superintending
the sports of a number of mice and dormice; and a duck, a hen, and a
guinea-pig, which were conversing together in one corner of the cage. Over
this motley assembly was a board which announced that this Happy Family was
supported entirely by voluntary contributions; and a woman was going about
amongst the crowd shaking a tin plate at them, and crying out against their
stinginess if they refused to contribute.</p>
<p id="id00989">Rosalie passed the Happy Family with difficulty, and made her way down
another street in the fair. On one side of her were shooting-galleries
making a deafening noise, and on the other were all manner of contrivances
for making money. First came machines for the trial of strength, consisting
of a flat pasteboard figure of the Shah, or some other distinguished
person, holding on his chest a dial-plate, the hand of which indicated the
amount of strength possessed by any one who hit a certain part of the
machine with all his might.</p>
<p id="id00990">'Come now! have you seen the Shah?' cried the owner of one of these
machines. 'Come now, try your strength! I believe you're the strongest
fellow that has passed by to-day! Come now, let's see what you can do!'</p>
<p id="id00991">The required penny was paid, and there followed a tremendous blow, a
tinkling of bells on the pasteboard figure, and an announcement from the
owner of the show of the number of stones which the man had moved.</p>
<p id="id00992">Then there were the weighing-machines, arm-chairs covered with red velvet,
in which you were invited to sit and be weighed; there was the
sponge-dealer, a Turk in a turban, who confided to the crowd, in broken
English, not only the price of his sponges, but also many touching and
interesting details of his personal history. There was also the usual
gathering of professional beggars, some without arms and legs, others deaf,
or dumb, or blind, or all three; cripples and imbeciles and idiots, who go
from fair to fair and town to town, and get so much money that they make
five or six shillings a day, and live in luxury all the year round.</p>
<p id="id00993">The child went quickly past them all, and came upon the region of
whirligigs, four or five of which were at work, and were whirling in
different directions, and made her feel so dizzy that she hardly knew where
she was going.</p>
<p id="id00994">Oh, how glad she was to see her own caravan again!—to get safely out of
the restless, noisy multitude, out of the sound of the shouting of the
show-people and the swearing of the drunken men and women, and out of the
pushing and jostling of the crowd. She thought to herself, as she went up
the caravan steps, that if she had her own way she would never go near a
fair again; and oh, how she wondered that the people who had their own way
came to it in such numbers!</p>
<p id="id00995">Toby was looking anxiously for her from the caravan window.</p>
<p id="id00996">'Miss Rosie dear,' he said, 'I thought you were never coming; I got quite
frightened about you; you're such a little mite of a thing to go fighting
your own way in that great big crowd.'</p>
<p id="id00997">'Oh, Toby,' said Rosalie, 'I haven't seen Mother Manikin!' and she told him
what she had heard from the giant of Mother Manikin's prospects.</p>
<p id="id00998">'I am sorry,' said Toby. 'Then you have had all your walk for nothing?'</p>
<p id="id00999">'Yes,' said the child; 'and I never mean to go through the fair again if I
can possibly help it—never again!'</p>
<h2 id="id01000" style="margin-top: 4em">CHAPTER XIV</h2>
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